Family Legacy
by fateorfiction
Summary: Jamie's in high school and accidentally lives up to his family name in partying. He has the friends, he'll get the girl, but what will it cost him?
1. Ch 1: Here It Goes Again

**Author's note:** **Set in the future, Jamie is almost and everyone else is aged mostly accordingly. Leyton moved back to Tree Hill a few years earlier. Everything else is either explained or just ask and I'll explain it. This is an update from the original posting, since I didn't like the romantic interest's name anymore. Enjoy!**

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><p>Jamie couldn't believe it. He had to babysit for the squirts AGAIN. Not just Lydia, either. Sawyer, Sarah and Davis too. His dad had texted him before baseball asking him to watch them because they were going to a Bobcats game with Lucas, Peyton, Clay and Quinn, and Brooke and Julian were at some fashion show.<p>

"Great," he though as the grabbed his baseball stuff. "Maybe they'll disappear after they eat so Chuck and I can play video games or something."

When he got to the locker room, he found Nathan already there, and chuckled as always, remembering where his name came from. And from his father's descriptions, the Nathan apple didn't fall far from his parents' tree. Jamie felt bad for the kid though, and he really was pretty talented, so Jamie had taken the sophomore under his wing for the time being.

"Hey man, you got _big plans_ tonight?" Nathan pestered him, making lewd gestures the whole time referring, of course, to his long-time crush Beth.

"Nah just found out I gotta babysit. Parents're going out of town again." Jamie didn't like to expose how high profile his family was if at all possible, and so far he'd been pretty successful. Playing off the big house and expensive cars as "family money" and not mentioning his parents' jobs as much as possible really helped.

When he'd said that, Nathan looked like someone had just kicked his puppy and Jamie couldn't help but add "You..wanna come over and hang out? You, me and Chuck?" knowing full well Chuck hated Nathan. He couldn't help it though, he just looked so sad. They would wind up having fun, whatever they did, so he didn't feel so bad. Chuck would be alright. That is, if he didn't kill Nathan and get caught doing it.

Nate jumped at the opening. "Yeah man! Totally! I'll bring snacks!" he yelled as he ran out the door, almost tripping over the threshold. Jamie shook his head as he texted Chuck "Hang out tonight? I'm on squirt duty again. Nathan's coming, don't kill him. Dinner at 6:30." He didn't wait for a response because he was already late and his dad was running drills, threw his stuff in his locker and jogged out onto the field.

Practice got done around 5:30, and Jamie jogged toward the locker room to grab his stuff and get home. His dad put his hand on his shoulder to stop him at the door and said, "We appreciate this, Jamie. Really. We owe you one." with the trademark Scott grin, and Jamie couldn't help but stay frustrated with him. He watched his dad jog off toward the car, arguing with Haley on the phone.

By the time he had gotten showered and drove home, it was just after 6. He knew from prior mishaps that unless he fed them _before_ they asked for it, things weren't going to end will for anyone. He got some pasta started for mac n cheese and got some hot dogs out. Easy dinner and the kids loved it. "Food of the gods," his mom called it, and everyone related seemed to love it. 10 minutes later, the hot dogs were almost done and the pasta was being mixed with the cheese and he called up the stairs to all the kids. First, as always, came Davis and Sarah bounding down the stairs. As the youngest, they were always excited to spend time with Jamie. Lydia and Sawyer came down more leisurely, the dangerous "teenage years" beginning to affect them negatively.

Jamie looked all of them, sitting their slurping down their food and wondered to himself how amazing it was that they all were so close despite major differences between them. Lydia and Sawyer were very much their mothers' daughters, into music more than anything else with the sass to back it up. Davis was a product of Julian's male-ness and the influence of Nathan, Clay, and Jamie, making him a boys-boy but not a lunkhead like Nathan had been in high school. And then there was Sarah. The baby of all of them, but quick to prove herself. A true James, but with so much of Clay in her that she was always up for a good time. Despite their differences, all 5 of them, spanning 7 years age difference, were the closest group of kids in Tree Hill at the time. He loved watching the younger ones interact and see them look up to him and his buddies, and his parents loved watching it too.

Chuck got there around 7 – late as usual – just as the kids were finishing up dinner, and the song and dance that usually came with Chuck began.

"What up squirts! Mac n cheese again! I'm beginning to think that's all this guy can cook!" he hollered as he walked into the kitchen. "CHUCKED!" he yelled as he went for Jamie, but Jamie had learned by now and blocked him, putting him in a headlock as the kids giggled.

As he was set free, Chuck grabbed a spoonful of the pasta from the pot, "Not as good as your mom's! Hey-ohhh" talking as he chewed. The kids cackled again, as Jamie groaned and tossed a dish towel at him. "Dude! Come on, not with the squirts around" he ribbed, jokingly.

"Fine, fine, fine" Chuck conceded. He grabbed a bowl, filled it, and plopped down between Davis and Sarah. He began joking with them, eating out of their bowls and they ate out of his, them giggling the entire time. Jamie was honestly sort-of surprised that Chuck was so good with the kids. _Guess it really does only take one generation to turn it all around, huh_ he thought, thinking back to his childhood and his Grampa Dan's parenting style, Chuck's less than present parents, and Quentin's immediate acceptance of him as a part of the Ravens. He was proud of Chuck for being the break in the chain in his family, and for how he handled Sarah and Davis.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Lydia and Sawyer moving to get up. "Hey, you two. Don't think you're getting away without washing your dishes. Get over there and rinse those bowls before you run back upstairs to do your _girlie things_" Jamie scolded, even though the last few words were in a ridiculously silly high voice. Sawyer rolled her eyes and Lydia just smirked as they complied. "And try to keep it down to a dull roar this time, why don't you." Jamie used his mother's favorite phrase, knowing it would get a rise out of Lydia, who retorted with "meh meh meh meh dull roar meh meh meh" and danced up the stairs.

"C'mon snots, lets go find something to do that'll for sure get both of us in trouble. Whatdya say, huh? Would you two be interested in that?" Chuck enticed the younger pair with an eyebrow waggle. They enthusiastically jumped down to wash their own bowls, dragging Chuck along with them.

"Don't do anything illegal!" Jamie called after them, as they ran down the hall to do God-knows-what.

After Jamie had finished cleaning up the kitchen, he walked into the TV room to find Sarah and Davis playing Mario Kart with Chuck, and Chuck was obviously letting them win. He stood behind them for a little while, just watching Chuck interact with his cousins, and finally spoke up. "Jeez Chuck, I'm beginning to think you're actually pretty bad at video games. Remind me why I hang out with you?" giving the kids the distraction Chuck needed to pull into first place and win the race, much to the chagrin of the little ones.

"Jamieeeee c'mon why'd you do that, we had him!" Whined Davis, always the complainer of the two.

"Yeah Jamie. We were about to win" chimed in Sarah, always the more sardonic of the two.

"You know you can beat him, guys, it's no big deal. You got him last time and you'll get him next time. Doesn't it make you feel good that the only way he can beat you is if I help him? Huh?" Jamie quipped right back at them, mimicking Sarah's face right back at her, as both of them had so much of the James genes in common.

Changing gears so as not to start a fight, Jamie quickly added "Hey, why don't we pop in Halo and kill some aliens together, eh?" Halo always distracted them, and he knew that none of the 4 of them could refuse killing waves of aliens together.

They played until kid-Nathan showed up around 8:30, with snacks as promised. He knocked, and they knew it was him because he was the only one of Jamie's friends that actually knocked and didn't just walk in. Well, any of their friends really. The Scotts had an open door policy about their house because that was just the way they were, and everyone seemed to appreciate it.

Jamie got up when the finished the game to answer the door, and saw Nathan standing there with 2 big garbage bags, full of what he could only assume were "snacks" and a case of beer in the other hand.

"Nathan, where the hell did you find someone dumb enough to sell you beer?!" Jamie jabbed jokingly but not entirely jokingly. Nathan wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed and it was pretty well known around Tree Hill.

"My dad got it for me! Told him we were havin a party tonight! Said it reminded him of old times, he got us a coupla cases and there's a keg comin later! Did he come through or what?! Too bad it's not at your dad's old beach house. Man the stories I've heard about that place."

"Nathan, we're not having a party, we're just hanging out. You know that, right?"

"Well duh. But I invited the whole school! It wouldn't be fun without a ton of people and beer, would it now!"

"Fine. Fine. Get in here. What time do they all get here? You know I have the squirts here tonight, right?"

"Yeah, but they go to sleep at like 5:00, they won't even know we're here. Promise."

"Try 10:00, dumbass. They're not 5 years old. And you won't keep it quiet, I know you, and I know parties. My dad tells me all the same stories your dad does. They're never quiet and they were never harmless."

"Fine! They can come too. I promise not to let them drink or anything. I'll make sure no one makes a mess and it won't go for that longgg. Come onnnnn pleaseeeee can we have a partyyyyyyy?! We haven't had one in agesssss"

Nathan was just so persistent that Jamie couldn't say no. "Did you invite Beth?" Jamie asked probingly.

"Yeah dude, of course. What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't?"

Jamie finally relented after a long look. "Fine. We can have a party."

"But you have to promise to clean it all up after it's done!" Jamie added as Nathan rushed past him, eager to set up for their new party.

Jamie followed him more slowly, wondering to himself what he'd gotten himself into tonight. Nathan had been known for some pretty dumb ideas, and his father Nathan had been known to throw some ridiculous parties, and Jamie knew the combination of his friend and his name weren't going to end well. Still, he sighed and went along with it.

When he got to the TV room, Chuck, Sarah, and Davis had just finished up another game, this time playing each other. Sarah and Davis had teamed up and annihilated Chuck and were now gloating.

"Whoa! Guys! You've been practicing! Nice job! You're even better than Chuck's mom was last night Ohhhh"

"Oh so you're allowed to do it but not me? Low blow man, low blow. Gotta add insult to injury, huh?"

"Whatever dude, you had it coming. Payback, you know how it is."

"Fine, fine. What's with the chumpsicle, he forget to take his Ritalin or something? He seems excited about something or other. Came down the hall screaming like a madman."

"He thought I told him we were having a uh…get-together…tonight, so he brought um…beverages…and invited almost the entire school." Jamie looked at the kids to see how much of the conversation they were understanding, and although they were following most of it, they weren't getting very much of it. Fortunately, Chuck caught on that Jamie was trying to be fairly cryptic about the whole thing and kept it going.

"Hey guys, why don't you see if you can take on some aliens yourselves, huh?" Chuck was desperately trying to keep the kids distracted. Once the game was set up and they were fully engrossed in it, Chuck asked "What about the peanut gallery? What're they gonna do?"

"I figured that they could hang out with us. In here in the TV room, I mean. We can check in on them once in a while? The girls will probably come down and hang out. I'll keep an eye on them, make sure they don't do anything dumb. It'll be fine. Plus my family's not coming back until tomorrow afternoon."

Chuck could only give him a look in response.

"It'll be fine! I promise. How bad could it be" Jamie assured him.

"Dude. Don't ever say that. Famous last words of a dead man. Kiss. Of. Death. bro."

"Whatever!" Jamie ended the conversation by heading out into the living area to make sure Nathan hadn't burned anything down yet.


	2. Ch 2: The Take Over, the Breaks Over

It was almost midnight, and they party was in more than full swing, and Jamie was the life of the party. Davis and Sarah had long since passed out and had been put to bed, and Jamie had thoughtfully put "occupied by kids" on the guest room door where they were sleeping. Sawyer and Lydia were around the party somewhere, Jamie didn't really know where and at that point in the evening, he didn't really care.

Beth had shown up around 10, and since then she'd been all over Jamie. And he wasn't complaining about that. A few drinks in for both of them, and she'd gotten a little hands-y, so now he was pretty occupied.

Jamie was busy trying to keep the people from doing anything dumb or breaking anything and trying to keep the little ones asleep and untouched and keep an eye on Sawyer and Lyd, AND keep Beth interested. Eventually something fell by the wayside.

Finally, Jamie relegated everything to Chuck, long after he'd lost Lydia and Sawyer to the crowd. Chuck hadn't drank very much, and kid-Nathan had already passed out naked on the deck with a guitar and everyone was pretty much leaving him alone. Beth had been trying for half an hour to drag him upstairs to his bedroom, and finally he let her once Chuck had promised to keep everything under control downstairs. Jamie wasn't too worried because a lot of the party had thinned out and most everyone had already paired up or fallen into smaller groups and things had gotten quieter.

Jamie disappearedinto his room with Beth, where she was already about to rip off his button down. She'd gotten his shirt undone and off in the time it had taken him to undo her buttons. It was fast and furious, and Jamie was too drunk to even try to keep up with it. He just went with the flow. Everything was a blur, and he barely noticed what was happening, but he knew he wasn't about to stop it.

Jamie woke up God-knows how many hours later. Thankfully, in his own bed, but with Beth beside him. He had no idea why he'd awoken with a start, but soon figured it out. The garage door was closing. Mom and Dad were home. Jamie panicked because he had NO idea what the first floor of the house looked like.

Jamie raced downstairs, hoping that Chuck had cleaned up or something. '_Wait a minute'_ Jamie thought to himself. '_This is Chuck. Of course he didn't."_ When he turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs _"at least he's consistent" _popped into his head. The living room was a disaster area filled with cans, cups, and passed out bodies.

"God I'm so fucked" Jamie said under his breath as he heard the garage door shut. All he could do was freeze. He was screwed either way, might as well fess up to it immediately. He just hoped that Lucas, Peyton, Clay, and Quinn weren't with them anymore. He really didn't want to get the talking to from both of them.

He knew exactly what would happen too. His mom would give him a "Jamie, really?!" exasperated look, Dad would give him a sheepish "I can't help you on this one buddy" smile. If it was everyone, Uncle Lucas would just chuckle and look sorry for him. Aunt Peyton would try to hold it in and then just laugh with Uncle Lucas. Aunt Quinn would be shocked and speechless, as if no one ever threw wild and out of control parties ever, and Uncle Clay would just open and shut his mouth repeatedly. Jamie really didn't want to deal with all of them. 2 parents were enough to deal with, he didn't need all 6 of them on him.

Just as they were coming through the door, something caught Jamie's eye to his right, lying on the couch.

"I'm literally dead" he muttered as he saw it. Lydia, passed out under Sawyer on the couch. Lydia had a cup in her hand, and Sawyer had marker all over her arms, drawn on by drunken high school boys all last night. "_Shit_" Jamie thought. "_When the hell did they get down here?! I thought Chuck was on that?!_ _And they PROMISED me they wouldn't be drinking! Little rats._"

Jamie was so shocked by the girls on the couch surrounded by couples and singles in various states of undress, he had completely forgotten about the attractive, nearly naked girl upstairs in his bed. Luckily, he had thought to pull a pair of sweatpants on before walking downstairs, so he wasn't totally indecent for when the parents walked in. He still had no idea what time it was, but judging by the light outside, it was pretty early.

"Hey Jimmy Jam, we're home early. Quinn wasn't feeling so good so we decided to drive through the ni…WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN HERE?!" Jamie heard is mother bellow from the door to the garage from where he was hiding in the kitchen.

"JAMES. LUCAS. SCOTT. GET YOUR ASS IN HERE IN THE NEXT THREE SECONDS OR YOU WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT APPLYING TO COLLEGES ANYMORE."

Mom had found the living room.

Nathan walked into the kitchen looking for Jamie, and when he found him he just grabbed a bottle from the fridge and sat down on a stool.

"Better get out there. She's pretty pissed. Can't say I didn't do worse, but we thought more of you. You're lucky nothing happened to the girls or the little ones or you'd be dead right now." He was met with only a blank stare. "What're you staring at me for, GO"

"Are…is…everyone here?" Jamie asked sheepishly, telegraphing which answer he hoped would come out of his dad's mouth.

"It's just us. We told everyone we'd drop their kids off when they woke up. Uncle Lucas'll probably be having the same talk with Sawyer that I'm having with you, you know."

"I know, I know. I'm going. Just promise when Mom kills me, you'll bring me back to life?"

"Promise. Oh and Jame? If it happens again, I'll kill you myself. That's also a promise."

As Jamie walked slowly toward the living room, he thought about what his father had said. Through all the stories he'd heard about his life, he'd always admired his father and his parents' high school relationship. To be honest, he was more scared of Nathan than he was of Haley. His dad was quiet, understanding, and always had related to Jamie more. Both of them were truly Scotts, and his father got that. But when his father had said he'd do something, he knew he'd do it. He was terrifying that way, and Jamie knew if he did ever do it again, he would be a dead man.

"Hey Mama…" Jamie muttered as he walked in, head hung low and his metaphorical tail between his legs. He looked around and everyone was awake and gone except for the girls, who were sitting sheepishly on the couch.

"Sit" was all Haley said to Jamie, and he knew he should. He took a seat immediately on the couch next to Lydia and Sawyer.

"Nathan! Get in here and drive your niece home! Be sure to tell your brother what happened last night. Sawyer's not getting off this one easy. Not if I know Luke and Peyton." Haley seemed to be addressing Nathan, but the whole time she had her eyes locked on the girls, and they knew she was actually speaking to them.

Jamie didn't have time to worry about Sawyer at the moment, he had bigger fish to fry. Like how the party got started, and how dead his mom was going to make him. And, as he just remembered, how Beth was still upstairs asleep in his bed.

"_Shit_" Jamie thought as he remembered the girl in his bed, "_how the hell am I gonna cover for that? I gotta get her out of here. Shit, my phone's upstairs, I can't text her to sneak out. Maybe I can get a message through Lyd? Nah…she'll do anything to sell me out right now, that won't work. Maybe I'll…_"

Just as Jamie was starting to panic, his mom gave him a way out.

"Jamie, go upstairs and wake up Sarah and Davis and get them ready to go home. Your dad should be back soon, I'll have him take them home. I'm going to have a little talk with your sister" Haley spoke calmly and evenly and Jamie knew shit was about to hit the fan.

Haley called after him "And don't think that you're off the hook, mister! You're up next!" Jamie just hung his head lower and shuffled up the stairs as fast as he could.

Before he went into the guest room, he stopped in his room to wake Beth up.

"Hey Beth, you gotta wake up. My parents are home and their mad as hell, you gotta leave or they're going to kill you too." Beth was coming too, looking super hung over and not really sure which way was up.

"Did we…I mean..last night?" Beth stammered as her eyes tried to adjust to Jamie's face and the unfamiliar surroundings.

"I don't think so. We weren't _that_ drunk. We would remember, right? I don't think we did." Jamie tried his best to calm her as quickly as he could. "I..I promise I'll call you when I'm done being dead, okay? But…you really have to leave now or we're both going to be dead. They're cool…but they're not that cool."

"Oh…okay. Do you have any aspirin or something? I just have to get my pants and my bra and I'll be ready to go. Is there a back door?"

"Uh…no… Do..you mind going out the window? There's a tree that'll take you right down. I…um…do it all the time… And Beth? I promise I'll call you tomorrow, I really had fun last night. We should…go out some time…if you want?"

"Hey. Jamie. Stop stammering, I like you too and I had fun too. I would love to go out some time." Jamie couldn't help but smile, even though he was dead meat. "Plus, you owe me for making me go out the window" Beth added with a grin and a wink.

Jamie opened the window for her and she kissed him on the cheek as she went out. He watched her get down, and then scrambled over to get the little ones up and dressed before his dad got back and his mom got even madder.

When he walked in, they were already awake and watching TV in their beds.

"Hey guys, ready to go home? And thanks for being so good last night, I really appreciate it. And I'm sorry we were so loud, it won't happen again. You guys really are awesome. But see… Aunt Haley isn't so cool about it and she's ready to hand me my a…um my butt on a platter for it. So would you guys do me a favor and get ready to go home? Uncle Nathan's gonna take you guys, and he'll be here any minute. It would really help me out a lot." Jamie finished up with the Scott grin, hoping that they would be convinced by the charm to do what he was asking.

Thankfully, they jumped out of bed and started getting dressed. They were moving slowly, obviously the party had kept them up, and he really hoped they wouldn't say anything about it to Nathan. The one thing he had going for him right now was that the party didn't affect the littlest ones and their sleeping.

He helped the kids get their bags together and followed them downstairs where Haley was waiting for them and watching Lydia get started on cleaning up the living room.

"Uncle Nathan's waiting outside, go on out and he'll take you home. Did you guys sleep okay" Haley sounded innocent, but Jamie knew that she was quizzing them on how big the party had been.

"We slept great, Aunt Haley!" Davis was chipper enough to pass as having a full night's sleep. Sarah wasn't as chipper, but she never was, so that didn't matter. Haley gave them a look as if she didn't really believe them, but was finally convinced by the smile on Davis's little face and let them leave.

As soon as they were out the door, Haley told Lydia to go work on the kitchen for a little while. One thing Jamie loved about his mom was that she rarely ever yelled at one of them in front of the other, unless they both did the exact same thing. This time, they hadn't, and Jamie was thankful for her splitting them up.

Jamie sat down on the newly cleaned couch and waited for Lydia to clear out and for the verbal beating to start. If there was anything Haley was good at, it was lecturing her kids. Must have come from her teacher's training. He was ready for it, but there was never any bracing for Haley's lectures, and this was going to be no different.


End file.
